Survivor Nicaragua Episode 8: Its Merge Time

Wrapup and than the views! As sure as the sun coming up in the morning.

Things get started at the LeFlor camp during the next day's morning as Marty talks about how he feels like a Dead Man Walking. Fabio gets back to camp with the tree mail as there is a key and a map included. It soon was obvious that it was merge time as they were instructed to head to the other camp to merge. This comes as great news to Marty who now gets a second chance due to this bit of news.

We soon head over to Espada approaching a locked box. They too discover the merge is near and they head back to camp to wait. Strategy talk begins as Benry privately begins to size up the others, namely Alina. Alina tries to talk her way into keeping the six Esapa's together and how she wants to dump Marty. NaOnka wasnt buying it however and it seems clear Alina will be out first if she doesnt get the idol. Soon the LeFlor head over to the Espada camp and there is shock that Jill is out. The firsty thing they do is open the chest and see a ton of food. There are also new buffs and a new tribe name will be decided on by the rest of the clan. Marty comes up with the name Libertad which means Liberty and the other dont disagree. The food gets gorged upon quickly and it seems all is going well now. NaOnka and Brenda however decide to go take a walk and discuss things. They both spill the beans on both tribes and NaOnka finds out from Brenda about how Sash has the idol. They than decide that Marty should go before he can infiltrate the group.

We next see Chase and Jane talking about the country as they get the water and a bond seems to form there. She feels comfortable telling him about how she was disrespected on her tribe and he tells her she will look out for her. Breakfast is being cooked and NaOnka is in a bad mood as she winds up getting the smallest tortilla that she was making for everyone. She decides to take matters into her own hands and so she digs into the remaining case of food and swipes the flour. She places it into her bag and walks off as Holly saw the whole thing happen. NaOnka goes ahead and hides it into the dirt. She than goes back and takes fruit and the utensils needed to cook. Alina walks back into camp at this point and talks strategy. NaOnka tells her they are gunning for her and she realizes now she has to win immunity. Whats shocking here is that NaOnka gives her one of the oranges she stole and the convo continues. There was a reason for NaOnka doing this as she believes she will get her vote when she is on the final jury.

We soon see Marty looking for the cooking bowl and the tribe realizes that a lot of things are missing. Fabio gets annoyed and Holly right than and there confronts NaOnka about the missing items. She immediately claims she got the stuff but put it back. She starts arguing with Fabio and its heated. She walks off in a huff and the rest of the group is shocked. Chase and Alina try convincing NaOnka to admit what she did. She goes along with it and comes clean to the group. She also reveals that Alina was along for the ride. We hear Marty pipe in with his opinion that he doesnt buy it.

We later see the tribe cooking dinner and the view is that Alina is even more marked than she was before. Sash believes however that NaOnka is the perfect person to bring to the final three as he knows no one would give her any votes. He tells NaOnka of his plan to get rid of Alina and that she is his number one ally in the game. Jane than shows the group that she caught more fish and Marty soon sees that she is making inroads in the tribe. He begins a mission to convince the others that she is a huge threat in the game due to her story and how she is bonded with everyone. It is here where we arrive at the immunity challenge. Immunity is not individual and the challnege consists of each person having metal handles causing tensions on a bar. If you ease the tension on the handles, the bar falls and it shatters a tile. The last man and last woman standing win immunity. We quickly have Kelly and Dan drop out, followed by Alina. Brenda is next, followed by Benry, Sash, NaOnka, and than Holly drops out giving Jane immunity. Jane wants to keep going however as she wished to beat the men. Marty drops his and its down to Fabio and Chase for the men. Chase soon drops and Fabio wins immunity.

Tension is high at camp as the talk begins on who to vote out. With Jane no longer an option, the talk begins to center on Marty amongst the girls. Jane wasnt him out bad. Kelly wants to get all the girls together and Sash to oust Marty. Chase and Holly also talk about getting Marty out so it seems unanimous. Sash however wants to keep him around as he he promised to keep him around when he got the idol from him the last time around. Jane seems annoyed by this but Brenda seems like its not necessary to rush it since there will be plenty of time to get rid of him later. Alina thus is back on the block again as Dan spills the beans to Marty that Chase is looking to blindside him. Marty immediately goes to Sash and looks for answers. He goes ahead and asks Holly to give the South Dakota word of honor to Marty that she is voting Alina. What a mess it is.

Tribal council arrives soon as it will be Alina or Marty getting the boot out of the game. During the TC, Marty talks about clearing the air and how it wasnt true about how he didnt like Jane. He calls out her startegy and she takes big offense. It gets heated between the two as he gets passionate about how she will win if she gets to the end of the game. Dan soon reveals that NaOnka and Alina stole food and claims she was punished which got snickers from the others. Soon the votes are cast as Alina is the near unanimous vote by a count of 10-2.

Now as always the opinions:

-Its like watching Groundhog Day when it comes to this season's edition of Survivor, specifically speaking in the way that Marty continues to dodge elimination each week. What amazing is how seemingly smart driven players like Sash and Brenda continue to let him skate by and not pick up on the threat he is. I dont buy the notion that he is not to be worried about anymore due to the fact he doesnt have the idol. The guy has a mind for the game and he will stop at nothing to win it. How they can rationalize voting out Alina and Jill over him is beyond comprehension. What a joke this is.
-Watching these people keep Marty around gives you the feeling of watching horror unknowing horror movie victims before they are chopped up by Jason or Freddy. Marty is lurking with his machete and he is ready to strike. You also get the feeling that Sash, Brenda and company are totally feeling tons of regret when watching these episodes at home. They know they screwed up. It just remains to be seen how bad.
-Alina I will miss you. Your amazing body, cute face, and feistiness. I think she got a bad rap in this game for no reason. People were always gunning for her but I dont know why. And Benry calling her a dirt squirrel? What the hell was that? We must be missing something as I havent seen anything that she has done to deserve the treatment she got.
-Sash is so pathetic with his little plea to keep Marty around so he adheres to the word he gave him. Forget that. Marty would not hesistate for a second to rip Sash apart the first chance he got if the roles were reversed. You would think that the exchange he had with Shannon at the beginning of the game would have toughened him up. I guess not.
-Even if he were to get voted out the very next TC (dont hold your breath with these idiots), Marty goes down as the best player of the season by a mile. Its not even close.
-The reason why I love Jane so much, and I have spoken her praises since the beginning, is the fact that she sticks to her guns and doesnt take crap from anyone. I loved how she went back at Marty during TC. And I totally loved how she kicked his ass in the challenge. Her sticking it out when she already won immunity was awesome. Right now its looking like a long shot for her to win due to the comments Marty made to everyone during TC but she certainly has earned my respect.
-Speaking of Marty's attack on Jane during TC, I thought it was totally tasteless and disrespectful the way he cavalierly talked about how Jane losing her husband made her the de facto winner due to her "story." I hope he feels som regret for those commens as they were terrible to make to someone who just lost their spouse. He basically was hinting that she was USING that story to advance her cause which no one with a heart would ever do.
-NaOnka stealing the food was so Russell-esqu but she was not slick enough to get it done without being noticed. She is a total psycho through and through but I actually thought this was funny for some reason. What was interesting was the fallout from this as the tribe seemingly forgave her for what to me is the biggest sin in Survivor. When food is as scarce as it is, anyone who consciouosly takes it from the rest of the group deserves to get their ass sent home that very day. No questions asked. Fabio goes off on here and than seconds later claims its all okay now. Marty was the only one who really went to town on her which is shocking. (Sigh)
-One thing that Sash did which was smart was his desire to take NaOnka to the end of the game. Everyone knows she wont get one vote if she gets to the end of the game and so she is the perfect person to bring to the finale as its a guaranteed win over her and greatly improves the odds of winning.
-Fabio was annoying as hell today. Whenever he talks I cringe. He is that idiot in your high school class who always embaressed himself in front of everyone to the point that it made you uncomfortable.
-Dan.....what else can I say. Even in a challenge where he had to simply stand a put tension on some sticks, he was only able to last 3 seconds. Ridiculous. The funny thing is that I actually believe he stands a great chance to get to the end of the game if he doesnt quite due to the fact that no one takes him seriously and he is not a threat to anyone. Crazy stuff happens sometimes in this game.
-Holly continues to intrigue me. I really respect the way she has played the game after a rough start. She really has transformed herself into a factor and has done well in the challenges. I wouldnt be shocked if she won. No seriously.
-Purple Kelly's uselessness goes on and on and on.
-I wish Chase would take a more active roll in things. He is way too much of a follower for such a strong guy.

All right thats all I got for now. Check back as always for more. Lets hear your opinions.